Patent leather shoe



' K. CLISBY PATENT LEATHER SHOE Feb; 12,1946.

Filed Aug; 1, 1944 INVHV TOR. flZzsv/aw (2/53) Patented Feb. 12, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PATENT LEATHER SHOE Kilshaw I. Clisby, Montclair, N. J.

Application August 1, 1944, Serial No. 547,585

1 Claim.

The invention here disclosed relates to shoes made of patent leather.

It is known that even the best grades of patent leather,'after a time, and particularly in cold weather, 'will crack and even become permanently wrinkled where the action and wearing of ashoe causes a more or less constant bending of the leather.

The objects of this invention are to overcome or eliminate these objectionable characteristics in patent leather shoes and specifically to provide a patent leather shoe in which the parts ordinarily subject to cracking and wrinkling will be free of any such conditions and will continue to hold a smooth gloss and finish substantially matching the original finish of the patent leather portions of the shoe.

These and other desirable results are attained in the present invention, as will be apparent from the following specification.

The drawing accompanying and forming part of the Specification illustrates a typical embodiment of the invention.

In this drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a patent leather shoe having the invention incorporated therein; and

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same.

In the drawing, the shoe shown is of more or less conventional construction except for the fact that the vamp 5 is made of special flexible, elastic, non-creasing and non-crackingsheet plastic, of the same smooth black finish and shine as the adjoining patent leather box and counter portions 8, 'l of the shoe.

This sheet plastic vamp may be of approxi mately the same thickness as the patent leather used in the other portions of the shoe and is of approximately the same strength, durability and wearing qualities. It is waterproof, oil-proof and tough and strong enough to hold the stitches used in connecting the parts together, and it may be handled and treated just as any ordinary vamp. It thus does not introduce any special skill or extra care in the manufacture of the shoe.

While free to bend with the flexure of the sole in walking, this plastic vamp has no tendency to assume any permanent wrinkles or creases and there is no tendency to form surface cracks.

The additional flexibility and elasticity imparted to the shoe gives added comfort and avoids the unpleasant pressure across the top of the foot occasioned by the corrugating action of the ordinary patent leather vamp.

This new plastic vamp may be entirely plain or it may be decorated by perforations and the like, after the manner of an ordinary patent leather vamp. For a mans hoe such as illustrated, it is usually preferred to provide ventilating perforations about the front and rear edge portions of the vamp, as indicated at 8.

For full-dress shoes the vamp may be full length, extending forwardly over the box of the shoe.

The plastic at present employed is what is known as imitation patent leather, now on the market under the name of Plastic imitation patentleather, a Vinylite product made by the Bakelite Corporation, but it is contemplated that other known sheet plastic may be used.

One of the reasons why patent leather checks and cracks in cold weather is that the solvent .used in the patent leather has a tendency to freeze. The plastic employed in this invention is soft and pliable even in cold weather, so the objection noted is avoided with this invention.

What is claimed is:

A shoe having the appearance of a patent leather shoe but free of the stiffness and tendencies to wrinkle and crack across the top inherently present in ordinary patent leather shoes and comprising heel and toe portions of patent leather and a vamp interposed between and connecting said patent leather heel and toe portions and composed of soft, flexible, waterproof, oilproof, non-cracking, non-wrinkling, pliable sheet plastic of a character remaining soft and pliable even under cold weather conditions, said sheet plastic vamp having a smooth, glossy surface matching that of the patent leather heel and toe portions at opposite sides of the same and providing a free hinging connection which will 

